Lester
by gaia-x-goddess
Summary: Everyone I've worked closely with is either dead, missing, or resigned. Now they're not even investigating the anomalies anymore... Can James Lester really be so changed that he's willing to risk his job and life working in the memory of those he's lost?
1. Chapter 1

**This is just the first draft of a story that might never be written. If you do think that at some point I should continue, please review, because I really don't know :D x**

Being notorious for not caring doesn't mean I don't care. It just means I'm capable of being practical, rather then getting so hung up one emotions.

So, these are the facts:

Nick Cutter is dead.

Stephen Hart is dead.

Abby Maitland, Connor Temple and Danny Quinn are stuck somewhere in time, with the possibility but not the probability of getting back.

Jennifer Lewis has quit.

Helen Cutter… I'm not sure about Helen. Where she is. Whether they stopped her. Whether she's killed my friends, or been eaten by a creature.

This is a fact: I am on my own. The ARC operation will be pretty much entirely closed down, now one of Connor's techie friends has worked out a way of sealing the anomalies automatically, the minute they open. Nobody has the genius of the original 'team', not enough to want to study these happenings and find out why they're happening, what's changed and what will happen next.

Nobody cares enough to want to spend time, and money, and people on what is no longer a problem. Of course not; it makes no sense. Nobody could be that ridiculous.

Except me. I owe it to everyone who's died, who's been lost and who's been killed. I may have disliked Nick Cutter but some of his spirit seems to infected me. No longer the sarcastic government pen pusher that I was, I find myself planning to go directly against the Ministers wishes in order to avenge my friends. To find out what they all dreamt of finding out, to investigate the anomalies. I've taken some kit. It'll be dangerous, and not only because I'm risking my career and everything I've worked for, but because I'll be putting myself in danger and risking my life.

Either I've gone mad, or someone's spiked my drink.


	2. Chapter 2

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_When Stephen died, the team never really recovered. Cutter… he was so close to Cutter. They said they were only friends, but I reckon if you believed that… well, maybe. I know what I think._

_The thing is, nobody who knows about the anomalies is being paid to care why. There's no danger anymore- nothing I was worried about. It's ironic that now, stuck in a high end secret service job with credentials to my name, I realise what Cutter was on about all that time. The mystery behind the anomalies; the fascination; the wonder._

_I've got myself a detector, and I'm going to find out why._

Lester wrote his diary quickly; aware that if it were found it was at the risk of both his job and respect. Staring guiltily at the detector in his bag, he frowned. Could he- should he- take this project on? Risk more people's lives?

…he'd never forgiven himself for a single one of them.

Suddenly, the detector bleeped discretely once. He stood up suddenly, his pulse racing and his legs trembling. Glancing down at the luminous screen, he realised his mind was made up- he was going to do it.

Standing in front of the sealed anomaly later, he checked that no-one was watching. Hopefully, the detectors would register the opening as a slight blip, and the sensors would register the fact that nothing had come out. There was no reason to start a panic, after all- and heaven knows, the Government would start a panic over anything.

"Right," he muttered to himself- and stepped into the past.

* * *

Abby frowned down at the detector, looking anxiously up at Connor in the tree. They'd made a camp there, managing to survive- she went down and scavenged for berries whenever she could, but they were both getting weaker and thinner. They were, she knew, just evading death.

It couldn't go on.

"Connor!" she called. He looked down morosely from his perch, and shrugged at her as an order to go on. "The detector!" she continued. "It's registering something…"

"Danny?"

"It must be!" she called, her voice excited. If she had bothered to check the rest of the gadget, she might have seen that the part of it telling her exactly where the anomaly opened too wasn't wherever Danny Quinn was currently lost.

It was, quite clearly, opening from 2012.

_Do you want me to continue? :P_

:S I haven't updated this for more than a year. So... I found it. Could be promising. It's up to you- shall I continue? Will you read? Or is this destined for 'delete'?


	3. Chapter 3

_Well, thank you to everyone who reviewed :) I'm going to continue with this and try and get updates to be both longer and more frequent. Enjoy!_

His shoe was stuck in something… unpleasant. And, judging by the smell, not plant originated.

"Oh, that is revolting," Lester muttered. He'd never been the adventurous type, confused and jealous of the way that Cutter and the others had managed to blithely wander around in different eras, gaining nothing more than a few cuts.

"I must be mad," he continued. "Coming here…" he looked behind him, automatically. "On my own."

He wished Sarah and Becker hadn't quit, taking with them the last spark of originality and wonder. Still, they had been right- the ARC didn't have a good track record, and it was no place for a pregnant woman.

All the same… "anything could happen, and they wouldn't have the faintest bloody idea of where I've gone…" Lester reasoned. "They won't be able to cope without me, either. Really, this is ridiculous. Absolutely bloody ridiculous…" he stopped, and looked around uncertainly. He appeared to be in some sort of jungle; whatever era it was likely to be was beyond him, and he had no clue of what he was going to do there.

"Oh for Gods sake," he sighed. "What next?"

He was on the verge of turning back when a voice stopped him. It was confused, and wary, but instantly recognisable.

"…James?" Abby Maitland asked.

Lester turned around, and was framing a question in his mind when he slipped. Losing his balance he grabbed onto a branch for safety. Hanging onto it for dear life, his previously immaculate suit ruffled and muddy, with his hair sticking up at odd angles and a look of shock on his face, he made a more than amusing sight. Abby doubled up with helpless, uncontrollable laughter, and didn't stop even when Connor came running towards the two.

"Abby? I- what?" He turned around warily, then caught sight of Lester who, in the struggle to claw himself back up, had got his foot firmly caught in a hole. Connor gaped, lost for words, and turned back to Abby.

"I, uh… is there an anomaly… or…"

"Well, evidently, what do you think I am, some sort of ghost?" Lester asked snidely.

"Right! Um…"

"I came to… try and… find you." Lester mumbled. "Something like that, anyway. I'm sure you're not complaining?"

"No… I mean… no, not at all, but why…"

"Spit it out!" Lester snapped. "And then help me out," he added as an afterthought. "Right, are you coming back with me or what?"

"I… yes!" Connor exclaimed, still struggling for words.

"This is surreal," Abby muttered. "Next you'll be telling us it's been over a year."

There was a pause. "I'll fill you in," Lester said. "But we haven't got long until it closes. Shall we?"

_Review?_


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